Chapter 50

Chapter 50

“All right. I’ll be cheering for you, Moondae.”

“Thank you.”

Cheongryeo said no more, accepting my refusal with little fuss. I wanted to strike up a conversation and somehow go ahead with my plan to appear a little more earnest, but I didn’t think it was likely to work with this guy.

He’s too famous, to start with. His group had only very recently won Artist of the Year and he was leagues above someone like me. If I tried to drag the conversation out any longer, I’d only make myself look bad.

“In that case, I’ll just get rid of this contract.” Cheongryeo picked up the paper, held it up for the cameras to see, and tore it in two.

That was for the drama. He’d probably been instructed to do so before coming inside.

“It can’t have been an easy decision. Thank you for your time. I wish you the best.”

“Thank you. All the best with your future endeavors,” I said, matching his politeness, bowing and shaking his hand.

“Oh, have you heard our recent album?”

“Huh? Yes.” I thought this interaction was over… For some reason, he was choosing to continue the conversation. I decided to just roll with it. “I’ve been enjoying it a lot.”

“Wow! What’s your favorite song?”

Is this bastard doing this on purpose? He’s not trying to get back at me for refusing, is he?

“Uh, ‘Stars’ is one of my favorites,” I said, picking the only song I could remember. I hadn’t actually listened to the album—I didn’t have time for that sort of thing these days. I only knew this one because one of my fans had mentioned it in a social media post.

“Oh! I wrote the lyrics for that one,” Cheongryeo pointed at himself with a smile.

So he’s working in some promotion for their album while he’s at it, huh? The group was already at the top of their game, so I didn’t see why it was necessary, but it spoke volumes about what an experienced idol he was.

“Oh, I see! You chose that song because you knew I wrote it, didn’t you?”

I laughed agreeably. It would be weird of me to deny or confirm this, so I had little choice but to just smile and nod. He smiled back at me and then stepped out of the room as though he’d suddenly remembered something.

Huh? He was holding a paper bag in his hand.

“It’s nothing special, just some ginseng. I thought it would help you keep your energy up.”

“Oh, thank you.”

Seeing the gold brand logo clearly visible on the side of the red bag, it was clear this was more product placement.

No reason to refuse ginseng, though. I accepted it without hesitation, and Cheongryeo bowed to me again.

“Good luck!”

“Yes, thank you.”

They finished filming with a shot of us smiling at each other. Staff flooded into the room once the cameras were off, many of them rushing to make sure Cheongryeo had everything he needed. Some of them adjusted the cameras and the tablet, but most were crowding around the idol. I assumed that all of them worked for VTIC.

They seem really dedicated. I guess I’d do the same thing in their shoes. He’s a walking gold mine.

After one of the staff had removed the microphone from his clothing, Cheongryeo quietly addressed me. “Moondae.”

“Yes?”

He no longer wore an easy smile. Not that his expression was hard or anything—he just sounded like a normal person. “I know it might sound biased coming from me, but LeTi really is a good agency. They pay well, too. Give me a call if you’re interested after the show ends.”

I had no idea what to say. He was telling me to get in touch if I failed to debut.

Is he serious? He wasn’t an agency executive. Why was he bothering to try and recruit trainees here of all places? Oh, maybe he has stock in his agency.

That made sense. I still didn’t understand his interest in Park Moondae, but maybe they really needed a main vocalist for their next debuting team.

I didn’t ask questions, just nodded politely at him. “Right. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it.”

And that was the end of our conversation. The staff led me out of the room and back to the waiting room. They appeared to be keeping those who’d taken the personality test separate from those who hadn’t, to prevent spoilers.

“Hey!” Raebin, who was already sitting in the waiting area, called out to me as soon as I stepped inside. “Who made you your offer?”

“It was LeTi.”

“Me too!”

So there had been more than one VTIC member present, then.

Raebin seemed uncharacteristically excited as he described his meeting with his VTIC member. As I nodded along, Ryu Chungwoo came in looking worse for wear.

“Oh, you guys are finished already?”

It was obvious from his expression that Chungwoo had been deeply conflicted about his decision.

Surely not everyone met someone from VTIC, right? The odds were far too generous if it was a thirty percent chance.

A contestant I didn’t know very well butted into our conversation.

“Hey! Who came to see you?”

“It was... Wonder Hall.”

They were T-Holic’s agency, a large company that had a long-standing reputation for producing great idols.

Wonder Hall isn’t bad, either. I could hear the guy who’d asked was impressed by this answer. Chungwoo forced a smile and took a seat, looking drained.

Surprising. He has practically assured a place on the debuting team, so it puzzled me that he would even consider leaving the show. Obviously, he had his reasons.

More contestants filtered into the waiting room and soon all ten people from the first group had gathered.

So all ten of us refused, then. I’d expected a couple of the lower-ranked guys to defect, so this was surprising to me—especially as the agencies they’d managed to gather were far more renowned than I’d expected them to be.

The second group of contestants also began appearing before long, and not a single one of them was missing. Oddly, some of them seemed very proud of themselves for refusing.

“S-seemed like a good person,” Ahyeon muttered with a smile on his face, having joined the group a little later than the others in his group. A famous solo artist had imparted to him some very kind words of encouragement.

“But you still refused?”

“H-huh?” Ahyeon flinched despite my playful tone. He looked shocked. “O-of course I did! I-if I decided to go with them... I wouldn’t have b-been able to debut with you guys...”

It seemed the first real friendship he’d formed with guys his age meant far more to him than I’d expected it to. If they’d offered just a little more in the way of incentives, all the others would have left the show.

I couldn’t help but give him a slightly pitying look but nodded agreeably. “That’s true.”

“Y-yeah!” Ahyeon responded energetically.

Raebin was staring at Ahyeon as though he was a particularly perplexing puzzle he couldn’t figure out. Then the third group began to trickle in. Big Sejin was the first to return.

“LeTi! What a shame!” he cried, grinning as he sat down.

So LeTi approached him, too. That’s Raebin, Big Sejin, and me. It might have just been a coincidence, but I was amused by what this seemed to indicate about the agency’s preferences.

Big Sejin’s words were even more amusing to me. A shame? He doesn’t mean that at all. His goal was to debut as soon as possible—someone as smart as him would never willingly join LeTi.

But after checking that there were no microphones or cameras set up around us, he muttered quietly to me, “Maybe I should have gone with them. I’m already starting to regret it.”

It seemed he had been more tempted than I’d expected him to be. Probably because his current agency wasn’t all that trustworthy and the opportunity itself was a rare one. In this industry, it was close to impossible to switch to a better agency before one’s contract expired.

The way Idol Inc. just removed the trainees who debuted from their original agencies was a high-handed move by the broadcasting station, and completely unheard of in any other context.

The agencies weren’t exactly complaining. They probably found it benefited them to send their trainees on the show since all of them had failed to be chosen for a group.

They’re maintaining a good relationship with the broadcasting station. Given how successful this season had been, however, there seemed to be some subtle pressure going on behind the scenes for the contestants to voluntarily leave the show and stay with their original agencies.

I recalled something Big Sejin had mentioned in passing during one of our breaks.

“Yeah, my company asked me recently. ‘Don’t you think it’d be better to debut with the trainees you’ve practiced with for so long?’ and stuff like that. It’s hilarious, don’t you think?”

It wasn’t like they were being offered anything in return for going back to their agency. I wasn’t surprised that no one was tempted to leave.

“Just kidding! I’m going to debut on this show!” Big Sejin said with a laugh. But it was obvious he’d really felt conflicted about it for a hot second.

It’s surprising how many of the highly-ranked guys were tempted. I shrugged. So nobody intended to leave and reduce the amount of competition for the rest of us?

Sadly, this seemed to be the case. Only one low-ranked contestant chose to leave.

“Contestant Choi Wongil has accepted a casting call from Traveler and will be stepping off the show.”‘

Good timing. I was impressed. He’d apparently thought better of continuing after seeing the public’s reaction to the most recent episode. He had trouble keeping his feelings in check, maybe because he was so young, but he was smart. I doubted he’d been stupid enough to smile when he left.

“M-my agency?” Goldie #1 muttered with some confusion from somewhere behind me.

Right. He’s from Traveler, too. Apparently, he’d been torn over whether to accept an offer from T-Holic’s agency but had ended up refusing. He was apparently pretty attached to his original agency. And he’s pretty determined to stay on the show, too.

Regardless, soon the Casting Call came to an end. I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t been able to achieve my goal, but at least I’d secured some screen time for myself.

They won’t cut any appearances from VTIC. Not after all the trouble they must have gone through to get them on the show in the first place.

After filming a few reactions from the trainees regarding Choi Wongil’s departure, the production team quickly set up for the ranking announcement. The contestants had to shuffle around until they were in the seats they’d been in before the quiz had begun and then endure an interminable wait.

This time, however, there was so much chatter that no one even noticed.

“Whoa, no way. That agency?”

“Holy crap.”

“Wow... What does Cheongryeo look like in person?”

Even the usual tension that preceded a ranking announcement seemed to have eased.

“Phew! Talk about a lineup. No wonder so many people seemed stressed about their decision,”

Big Sejin said with a low whistle. He began rattling off the names of the agencies that had made offers. With a brief glance around, he whispered to me wearing an odd smile,

“You know something?”

“What?”

“That guy over there who has the same name as me? He was really tempted, too.”

He seemed to be referring to Lee Sejin, the former child actor. He was one of the last people to come back to the waiting room, for sure.

Lee Sejin hadn’t reappeared until just before they’d announced Choi Wongil’s departure. I had never really cared about him, though, and to be frank, I still didn’t.

Big Sejin had always given me the impression he didn’t like Lee Sejin. In contrast, he seemed really comfortable around me now. He let me in on his real thoughts with a grin.

“He’s signed with an acting agency, you know. Maybe he wanted to join a real idol agency?”

“Maybe he did.”

Doing so wouldn’t have been a bad option if he wanted to be an idol but saw little chance of winning the show. Unfortunately, it would probably be difficult for him to join a new team because of his age, unless he debuted right away.

That’s for him to worry about. Big Sejin shrugged, probably realizing that I wasn’t all that interested in the topic of conversation.

“Yeah.”

Our break time ended soon after, and filming of the ranking announcement ceremony began.

***

As the contestants prepared themselves for the ranking announcement, the celebrities who’d made cameo appearances on the show were already on their way to the next items on their schedules.

This was true for VTIC as well, who notoriously had schedules that were packed so tightly it was down to the minute during a comeback. The two members sitting in their van said nothing as they stared down at their phones. Only when the time came to order lunch did they speak.

“Hey, how did it go?”

“It was just work, as usual,” Cheongryeo replied calmly.

“You met three guys, too, right? Anyone special? I thought the kids I met were all right.”

“Not sure.”